Wireless Security: Centrally controls when, how, and where users are allowed to connect. Wi-Fi connectivity can be limited to authorized and known access points, minimum encryption strength, or can be disabled completely if necessary.

Data Encryption: Secures data stored on the endpoint and on removable media, encrypting files so they can only be read by authorized users. Protects sensitive information on lost or stolen mobile computers.

USB Security: Prevents intentional or inadvertent transmission of data to removable storage devices. Storage devices can be placed in read-only mode or fully disabled, while the endpoint hard drive and all network drives remain accessible and operational.

Application Control: Ensures only approved applications are run on corporate IT assets — create black lists, or enforce applications to run (i.e., VPN or Antivirus) prior to network connection.

Client Self Defense: Protects the endpoint by ensuring that the security client cannot be altered, hacked, or uninstalled.

Disclaimer: This content is not supported by Novell. It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test it thoroughly before using it in a production environment.

I remember the comments we got when we started with ZENworks Patch Management, “why only a Windows Server”, “why do we need MS SQL”, etc. Now with ZENworks Configuration Management we’ve seen that ZPM is completely integrated, no separate server needed.
ZESM is a new product that came out of the strategic relationship with Senforce, and it’s based on their existing product, let’s give it some time and see how it will evolve.

“Blum Capital says Novell could immediately trim $225 million from its 2006 expenses by cutting use of two company jets and jettisoning 400 engineers who develop systems for Novell’s Netware operating system, among other moves.”

Result: Novell killed Netware.

“Novell acquired Celerant in its purchase of Cambridge Technology Partners. Celerant is based in the United Kingdom and consults on organizational problems such as supply chains and technology optimization. Novell would realize at least $175 million from Celerant’s sale, Blum Capital theorized.”

Result: Novell sold off Cambridge.

“Blum Capital also advocates that Novell divest Cambridge Technology Partners, as well as its GroupWise, Tally Systems and ZenWorks products. The businesses are not core to Novell’s moves into Linux and user identity management software, Blum Capital opined, adding Novell could realize $325 million by selling off the businesses.”

– If using your own SSL certificates, please validate the SSL from the MS server to the DS server: open a web browser on the Management Service and enter the following URL: https://DSNAME (where DSNAME is the server name of the DS). This should return valid data and NOT certificate warnings (valid data may be “Page under Construction”). ANY certificate warnings MUST be resolved before installation (unless you opt to use Novell Self Signed Certificates instead).

– Ensure access to a supported RDBMS (Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP4, SQL Server Standard, SQL Server Enterprise, SQL Server 2005). Set to DB to Mixed mode. This database should be either hosted on the Management Service server, or a shared server secured behind the enterprise firewall.”

What a GREAT way to get customers to use Novell products instead of Microsoft’s by REQUIRING them to have MSSQL.

Does Novell have the laziest developers or is this a part of the MicroLinux deal you signed?

It’s a partnership – the product runs on Windows. We will work to influence partners to look to other platforms over time.

Just like other products where we have had successful partnerships and aquisitions – look at ZENworks Patch Management (partnership) and ZENworks Asset Management (acquisition of Tally Systems).

Both of those products are best of breed and run on Windows servers. Customers have seen our roadmap – we are integrating and providing cross platform delivery – that’s with ZENworks Configuration Management. Up to that point they have been widely deployed and are helping our customers manage their infrastructure.

The market share of ZENworks in environments that already use eDirectory is huge, but getting into new customer environments that just use Active Directory has shown to be very difficult. Telling customers that if they want to implement ZENworks they will need to put up eDirectory next to their existing directory seems to be a huge roadblock. This is what native AD support is all about.

But, as Martin already mentioned, ZCM 10 is much more then just native AD support. It’s the framework that allowed us to integrate Patch Management and Asset Management and will allow us to integrate other ZENworks components moving forward. Take the time to have a detailed look at the product and then tell us what you like or not, that would be much more useful then having these conspiracy theories.

We are using Sybase iAnywhere as the included database for Linux and Windows customers; we also support MS SQL and Oracle depending on customer.

We do plan to add additional databases in the future – ZENworks Linux Management supports postgres today for example.

Technical issues – there have been a few over the years; mainly around capabilities in stored procedures, queries etc – most of these are getting resolved with the latest versions of the open source rdbms. AS you must appreciate it does take time to add platforms/rdmbs to an enterprise product.

Maybe it would be useful to read what Martin has mentioned!! “We are using Sybase iAnywhere as the included database for Linux and Windows customers“. We’ve got Sybase available on both Windows and Linux as our standard SQL database server. There is no requirement to have a Microsoft Windows server with MS SQL installed, it’s just an option some customers might prefer.

And, as mentioned, we might add support for additional databases in the future.

As Cool Blogs grows and gets more readership it’s time to start publicly sharing our ideals for this blog – and especially the comments.

* Our number one goal is open communication.Novell Cool Bloggers are encouraged to blog about any area of Novell or adjacent technology. The only caveat is that we need to safeguard our intellectual property and competitive edge – so release dates will be within a calendar quarter window, we will not discuss projects or plans that are not publicly announced, we will not discuss financial matters.
* We encourage our readers and subscribers to join in. Comment. Make suggestions. Give feedback. Again – our aim is to make this a broadly acceptable community that is of interest to many people. Comments may be edited or rejected to remove offensive or profane commentary. Comments may also be removed if they are not generally ‘constructive’ and in keeping with the subject of the post.
* We try to follow sensible guidelines – ’spam’, ‘trolling’, ‘astroturfing’ and ‘flaming’ are generally not acceptable and will lead to comments being edited or redacted.

I’d love to take this offline, but then that would defeat the purpose of having an “open” communication tool, such as this blog. IMO, “taking it offline” when nothing of NDA importance is being discussed gives the distinct impression of having something to hide. Quite frankly, if you can’t stand the heat….

If I am having difficulty understanding that ZEN 10’s documentation clearly states that MS SQL is required and you are telling me that it isn’t, then others may also have difficulty understanding that seeming contradiction as well.

I *never* once referenced ZEN 7 – I referenced ZEN 10. Where did ZEN 7 ever enter this conversation?

Anyway, when you state,

“technology solutions that are offered through partnership or acquisition are often Microsoft-centric intially; we have a proven track record in making them cross platform over time.”

I’d like to know why this is, especially for ZENworks version 10. Novell has a vested interest in making their products work on Linux (or even work on that now-dirty word, “Netware”), and has spent untold millions of dollars on products and development for the green lizard.

Why is it Microsoft-centric first? Why have ANY dependencies on Microsoft when Novell owns everything they need to make it Microsoft-independent from Day One? Why does it take so long for it to become other than Microsoft-centric?

My company is not the only company that would jump at Novell’s products if they weren’t designed to have an MS requirement. MS is expensive, unreliable, insecure, and once you get it in, it’s impossible to stop it from growing.

You know how it works – Got more users or apps? Then get more MS servers! Don’t forget the extra licensing, maintenance, support, backup / anti-virus / security software, and extra hardware. Oh, need a site server, etc? It just grows and grows. After a while, you wonder why you have anything other than Microsoft in your environment and find ways to make it so.

We would rather not have those weeds in our network if at all possible. (Yep, you guessed it – we’re a Netware shop with a controlled Windows environment and lots of Macs.) We don’t want to be forced to add an MS server (or two or three…) to run Novell’s software.

It’s through our controlled environment that we can grow as we have without wasteful spending on identity management, security, hardware, software, etc. And it’s all thanks to Novell and the great products you produce.

In its’ current incarnation, ZEN 10 will never see the light of day in our network (which crosses several continents). I’m but one admin who was excited about ZEN 10, until the details came out.

“My company is not the only company that would jump at Novell’s products if they weren’t designed to have an MS requirement. MS is expensive, unreliable, insecure, and once you get it in, it’s impossible to stop it from growing.”

Have you tried the ZENworks 10 Configuration Management public beta? Did you try it on SLES 10?

“In its’ current incarnation, ZEN 10 will never see the light of day in our network (which crosses several continents). I’m but one admin who was excited about ZEN 10, until the details came out.”

You do seem to need to re-read the information that we are openly sharing about our products and plans.

Again – my offer to talk about this offline is still open; you do seem angry about something – but ill-informed commentary on Cool Blogs is not the best forum.

Interesting. It supports Sybase iAnywhere, which supports, from their website, “SQL Anywhere Server can be deployed onto the platforms you desire, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Netware, Solaris, and a range of other UNIX variants.”

Yet Novell requires either Linux or Windows – “No Netware Allowed”.

Or am I mis-reading this?

Like Jon, we are a Netware shop and have used ZEN and IDM extensively. We have resisted both Windows and Linux in the server room. If our developers ask for a Windows server, they get turned down flat. We’ve had vendors tout their wares here, and we’ve turned away those who require Windows servers. And business is booming. We have a wide mixture of desktop OSes per department, but the server room is going to stay secure, as is our environment.

For Novell to keep thumbing their noses at shops like ours while still claiming to support Netware is counter-productive for them. I would have thought that the huge backlash at killing Netware would have taught them *something*.

When Novell makes new software that is supported on the Netware environment without requiring Linux or Windows and it fits our strategic direction, we’ll jump on it. Not until.

Regarding ZESM (the original topic of this blogpost)
As Martin mentioned in a previous comment, “technology solutions that are offered through partnership or acquisition are often Microsoft-centric initially; we have a proven track record in making them cross platform over time.”

Regarding ZCM (as that somehow seems to be the one discussed here in the comments).
Indeed, Novell still claims to support NetWare, there have been several statements about that. NetWare however isn’t the preferred operating system for new developments (on this subject it might be interesting to read this old blog post from Jason Williams).

So you either support OES2 fully, or you do not. Which is it, and why is Novell waffling on Netware support?

Sorry to be a stick in the mud here, and maybe Jon feels the same way, but Netware shops like us are just sick of being shafted by the manufacturer who state one thing and do another. (And that’s one reason we deny Windows servers.)

Here’s a snippet from Novell’s OES2 “Sneak” –

” SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 provides the ability to run multiple self-contained virtual machines on a single physical server using Xen-based virtualization. Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 offers the ability to run NetWare® 6.5 as a paravirtualized guest operating system on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. As a paravirtualized guest operating system, NetWare has been enhanced to recognize that it’s running as a virtual machine for optimal performance on the latest hardware.

Virtualizing NetWare on Novell Open Enterprise Server opens up some very profitable server consolidation possibilities. On today’s high-end hardware, NetWare rarely comes close to reaching full CPU utilization. When Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 comes out, you’ll be able to take advantage of under-utilized hardware by having a single machine host two, three or more NetWare servers without affecting performance. This can deliver significant savings on hardware costs, rack space, cooling requirements and power requirements.”

While I totally despise the idea of virtualization, at least it shows that Novell IS still developing Netware.

Again, why doesn’t Novell release a formal statement saying that Netware is in a “freeze”, and no further development on Netware will be done, outside of a large customer demand?